Driver competency, public awareness vital to cut road deaths: Minister
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Shaikh Rabiul Alam has stressed proper training and competency of drivers alongside greater public awareness to reduce road accident deaths, saying around 5,000 people are killed in crashes in Bangladesh every year.
“Ensuring road safety would require coordinated efforts from all road users, particularly drivers and pedestrians,” he said while speaking as the chief guest at a road safety workshop organised by the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) at a hotel in Banani on Monday.
The minister identified lack of awareness among pedestrians and incompetence and inadequate skills among drivers as major causes of road accidents.
He said drivers must receive proper training, develop adequate skills and meet necessary qualifications before being allowed to operate vehicles on roads.
However, he said simply organising training programmes and issuing driving licences would not be enough. Their effectiveness must also be assessed to determine whether they are producing competent drivers.
“Licensing, training, driving skills and vehicle fitness must all be given equal importance. Merely having proper documents does not ensure road safety; both the driver and the vehicle must be safe in reality,” he said. Shaikh Rabiul also stressed greater awareness among pedestrians and other road users about safe road-use practices.
People should be educated about traffic rules and encouraged to use roads responsibly, he said.
He called for effective measures to control speed, reduce motorcycle accidents and ensure helmets are worn by both motorcycle riders and passengers.
“Ensuring fit vehicles, qualified drivers, controlling speed, reducing motorcycle accidents, ensuring helmet use and creating awareness among the people are essential. Without effective action on these issues, it will be difficult to ensure road safety,” he said.
The minister stressed using accident data to identify high-risk areas and determine why and how crashes occur.
Such information should be incorporated into the planning and design of future roads and infrastructure projects, he said.
He also urged authorities to ensure that road safety workshops and seminars do not remain merely formal events. Their recommendations and lessons should be implemented at the field level to bring tangible improvements, he said.
Shaikh Rabiul called for specialised and continuous training for personnel involved in road safety, including highway police and engineers, to develop and retain their expertise.
He said the government had undertaken various projects with support from development partners to improve road safety and train drivers, but the actual outcomes of those projects needed to be evaluated.
“We are learning, but we must ask ourselves whether we are able to implement what we have learned,” he said.
The minister urged authorities to move away from assumption-based approaches and adopt evidence-based road safety management to prevent accidents and save lives.
